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The Invasion of Compulsory Sex-Morality

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In this volume, Wilhelm Reich calls for an end to sexual repression, and he asks how we came to organize ourselves into societies in which such repression is enforced.

He finds in Malinowski's _The Sexual Lives of Savages_ a description of how man deals with sexuality prior to the establishment and enforcement of compulsory sex-morality; and he likes what he sees. In the course of his book, he treats us to lengthy selections from Malinowski. The matrilineal Trobriand Islanders are depicted as free from the Western conflict between father and son, because in their society the maternal uncle takes on the functions of the Western father. The result is a society free of perversion and sex crime. And yet, even the Trobriand Islanders are in danger of destroying their paradise. The chief imposes the institution of cross-cousin marriage on his sons and their wives-to-be, thereby enhancing his own material wealth. The participants in these arranged marriages do not enjoy the freedoms accorded the other children.

The other foundation of Reich's book comes into play at this point, Frederick Engels' _The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State_. Reich uses his sources in combination with his own insights to expose the reason for compulsory sex-morality in Western societies. Compulsory sex-morality, and its denial of adolescent and pre-adolescent sexuality and enforcement of marriage, exists to establish and perpetuate the wealth, privilege and power of an elite.

This book was burned at the behest of the FDA in 1956 as "labeling" for Reich's orgone accumulating devices. Reich was sent to prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1957. The book is well-written, thought-provoking, and loaded with pointers to relevant literature. It is available once more, although it is out-of-print at the moment. I highly recommend it.

Usually psychology mires us into the "individual" when examining social phenomena such as fascism or authoritarianism. It usually goes like this: society is reasonable but every so often someone emerges with an abnormal view of the world. Reich throws all this out the window with a historical materialist analysis of the origins of authoritarianism. Going further than Adorno, Reich links sexuality to the ruling class and its plans for shaping the population to accept its rule. Using comparative anthropology, Reich asks important questions such as, is it possible to live free as long as there is rule of the many by the few? Making a compelling case that the emergence of class based society goes hand in glove with sexual repression, Reich is very relevant for today.